Sunday, August 1, 2010

Book Review: Jane Austen Ruined My Life

I have had the pleasure to read several really good books in a row! I usually enjoy about everything I read, but every once in awhile you come across something that really captures you up in the story.

I felt like that about Casting Off and Thanks for the Memories and now I just finished Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo.

This is a very sweet book for any Jane Austen fan. You follow the journey of Emma Douglas who has just found her husband in a compromising situation. She is denied tenure at the university where they both work after the scandal broke and being the Jane Austen fan that she is (and a literary scholar) she heads to London to try to recover some lost letters of Jane Austen - planning to oust Austen as the fraud that she must be, since no one really finds their Mr. Darcy or Mr. Knightly and make a huge discovery in the literary world to clear her name in the process.

A widow and recluse claims to have original copies of some of Jane Austen's unpublished letters to her sister Cassandra, but sends Emma on a number of "tasks" in order to view the letters and will only allow Emma to see them if she swears to never tell anyone about them.

Emma grudgingly goes along with it and learns a lot about herself and Jane Austen in the process. *from the back cover* As Emma uncovers the legendary author's innermost thoughts, she begins to understand the reasons for her idol's secrecy. Laced with excerpts from the missing letters, Jane Austen Ruined My Life is the story of a woman betrayed who uncovers the true meaning of loyalty.

The two books of Pattillo's I've read so far are creative and very good. They are also very "clean" books. No foul language and no sex scenes, which although I read many, many books that fall into that category, sometimes it's nice to pick up one that's on the less scandalous side. I would say her books are more similar to a Debbie Macomber book than a Susan Wiggs, if you know what I mean. =)

I'm also super excited to discover she has another book out this past February called Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart.